On Fire
by LanaaLuthor
Summary: Hunger Games trilogy from Katniss & Haymitch POV. What if all Katniss felt toward Gale was brotherly affection and her romance with Peeta was only for cameras? What if she found real love in an older and broken man. A man who was just like herself.


**Description: **Hunger Games trilogy from Katniss & Haymitch POV. What if all Katniss felt toward Gale was brotherly affection and her romance with Peeta was only for cameras? What if she found real love in an older and broken man. A man who was just like herself.

**AN: **I always liked older man and when they're blond… well, I'm lost:D So obviously, when going to see Hunger Games I fell totally for Haymitch and then decided to make my version of the story. I usually write Smallville fics, but how many can I? It's time to try something new, especially when I feel inspired so much that I will just burst if I don't write it down.

**So, **as I am experienced writer, hoping for such a career, you can be sure that the whole story will be delivered to you. I always finish what I start and never leave anything behind. You can safely start reading it: ) It's my 67th story, so that is something, isn't it?

**Below I present **a preview to this fanfic, so you know what to expect. It's taken from a further development of the action and I think you can easily guess which part it is.

I will not rewrite the whole trilogy, because I don't see any point in that. I will just present both Katniss and Haymitch's POVs and add something from myself as well : )

**OH! And there is a video to this story. Unfortunately, it got blocked on youtube. Obviously, you cannot use some footage, so I put it on sendspace and you can download it from there:**

**sendspace com/file/0mhlon**

**It is on my youtube channel also, but the music is cut off at some point, but you can see the beginning to decide if you want to get the whole thing: youtube com/watch?v=pruVydAiBhc**

**Also, the links will appear in whole in my profile.**

**You can sub me, there is new video about Haymitch & Katniss coming!**

Sorry for the quality of the second part of the vid but there was nothing I could do. I can't tell why, but it will be clear when you get there. At least, the final kiss went great because of it : ) YAY! Now, off to preview and the story right after it…

* * *

**Preview/tease:**

_Katniss POV_

I am sick that I can't kiss him because there are cameras everywhere. I would just like to hold him, to feel him next to me and to never let him go.

But I know I will never see him again. My heart breaks and I can see in his eyes that his breaks too. I turn around. I walk away. I leave.

Then I feel it's all wrong! I can't just disappear like that and leave him with nothing. To leave him to his own excruciating pain and grief.

So I come back. I thrust myself into his arms and whisper, "I love you," into his ear.

He is the only one that can hear it and he says, "I love you too."

His hold on me is strong and desperate. I can feel him slowly breaking and I don't want to see his hurt face now. How can I leave him like this? How can I?!

But if I don't, the Capitol will force me and kill me. If I do leave him, I will be dead anyway. There is no other option, no way out, no alternative. I am doomed. Our love is doomed.

Then he's holding me a little too tight. I know we need to break soon because they will get suspicious.

"You will come back to me," he whispers and then lets me go.

He didn't promise me what I wanted but I can't be possibly angry about that. I also can't come back. I will do anything to save Peta, even without Haymitch help. I owe him. He is the most purest and good person of all of us and he doesn't deserve to die so two broken people could get back to each other.

I cast Haymitch one last look. My eyes are already full of tears.

He is mine forever and there will be no one else. And our romance, our love ends as fast as it started, once again killed by the Capitol. My rage for them is just too big to describe in words. I need to make them pay.

I need to make them pay for forcing me to love someone I don't in front of cameras all my life. To get engaged, to keep pretending while the man I really loved was slowly dying inside because of it.

* * *

**Part 1**

_Haymitch POV_

I can barely stand it.

The day is here. Twenty four years since I won my Quarter Quell and now I need to go back up on that stage and watch another Reaping. Another pair of Tributes that I will have to coach and then send to death. I stopped being delusional a long time ago. Once I won I thought I could help at least one Tribute to make it. I was wrong. So deeply wrong… there was always someone better, someone well trained, someone deadly. There were Careers and those were the ones that always killed my pupils. And I had to watch it. And then I needed to go home alone, see all those painful looks shot at me. All those families that had sent their children to the arena, counting on me to help. And I failed them all.

Of course it wasn't long before I started drinking. It was my escape, the only thing that kept me going, the only thing that stopped the nightmares. They started when I came home as a Victor. I always dreamt of the arena, of the people I killed or watched die, of Maysille. Then when I got my own Tributes, I saw them dying. With every year more and more of them. At one point I was the one doing the killing. I couldn't take it anymore, so I took to drinking.

Since the moment I picked up my first bottle I fell into a routine: drink all year long, show up at the Reaping, stop drinking for a while or just cut it down a little, couch the tributes but never get too attached to them, do my best, watch them die, come home and repeat.

My life was miserable but I couldn't just kill myself. Oh no, the Capitol might have put me into that arena but they have no control over me now. Killing myself would be giving up, giving in. They would win if I did it. I needed to be strong enough to show them that I am still standing, that I keep on surviving.

And now I watch a twelve year old being picked for the Repeating.

I know it already. She will be the lost cause and if I want to give a real chance to someone, I will not be able to bet on her.

They are sickening, those thoughts that need to appear in my heard every time, but I can't help it. I need to keep trying on helping the best tribute.

Then something unusual happens.

A young woman, probably still a girl as her name must be in the vase too, steps out of the crowd, screaming, "I volunteer! I volunteer as Tribute!"

She is desperate. She is doing it for her little sister, I can tell. One may think that after all those years I get used to the cruelty of the Capitol, of the blood being spilled, but… something inside of me breaks and I regret I haven't drunk enough alcohol this morning.

The girl, Katniss Everdeen as now I know her name is, goes onto the stage.

She is beautiful, I can see that. She must be seventeen because she looks very grown up. Maybe she is one of those girls that have been providing for her family since they were children. It is very common those days and I regret not showing up in the town more. But then I scold myself, I can't show up there because every child I see, every young woman or man is a potential Tribute for me and I see them bleeding and dying in front of my eyes.

I need a drink.

Then Effie calls a man. His name is Peeta Mellark.

I look at those two Tributes and I can't decide. Which one be the one I will try to save? Which one will be the one sentenced to death?

The girl looks scared a little, but I like what she did. She stepped in for her sister. That was something. She also doesn't look fragile, she looks tough like all those years in District 12 hardened her up.

The boy is close her age although somehow he looks younger than her. He seems to be very innocent. I know at instance that the rest of the Tributes will slaughter him in the arena and I feel sick.

I need a drink. _Now._

So I guess I will bet on the girl.

* * *

I make an appearance for a brief moment when we are already on the train. I drink because I can't deal with it. It is too much. Every year is just too much…

I look at the girl and the boy.

When my eyes meet her blue ones something inside me stirs and I am afraid I will get attached. I need to avoid that for all cost. For my own sanity.

The boy asks what to do once they will be on the arena. Maybe I underestimated him. He looks innocent, but there is a force inside of him that wants to stay alive.

So I say it. I am too drunk to think anyway, so in my moment of weakness I mock then, "Stay alive."

And I disappear again.

* * *

The girl is the one to surprise me the next morning at breakfast.

I barely trot into the room in my bath-robe and they already start asking questions. The girl is more eager today and she keeps asking about finding a shelter. Maybe all finally sunk in and she realized she needs to stay alive like I said to her the previous day.

That is the ugly truth. The Tributes, at least those who aren't Careers, don't want to kill, don't want to fight for their lives. It is brutal to them, inhuman. But then… their eyes open up and they realize they want to live after all, so the Capitol wins because on the arena everyone fights to save their own ass.

"Give me a break, sweetheart," I tell her, trying to pour myself some alcohol. I notice my robe is open a little on my chest so I fix it. I don't know why, but it doesn't feel right to expose myself to her eyes. There is something in there… I push it aside and try to drink.

"Can you pass the marmalade?" I ask and then I see a flash of something silver and a knife is suddenly stuck in the table, right between my fingers. One inch and she would hurt me.

I look at her, stunned, and she looks at me.

I can't help but feel my blood boiling under the scrutiny of her sight. Her eyes, so beautiful, so grey.

Maybe I'm still drunk?

"That is mahogany!" I hear Effie's outraged voice and the moment is broken.

I know one thing though. I need to bet on the girl. She is the one that will get out of there alive. She has better chances than Peeta.

* * *

The official presentation goes on and I nearly lose my breath when I see my Tributes.

Are those people really them?

The boy I definitely recognize, but Katniss…

She is transformed. She's smiling and waving to the audience and she is so… beautiful, I can't help but notice. Her dark hair up, her makeup, her costume… Cinna made her desirable and I like it. Then their costumes are caught on fire and I know I need to thank the stylist. He did a great job. He made my Tributes worth remembering, they aren't just faces in the crowd anymore, they are being recognized. This is the first step to success.

* * *

I am blown away. Elated. Excited. For the first time for… I don't even remember!

But I know now… no, more… I am _sure _we stand a chance this year! Maybe I can keep her alive long enough so she would win.

My girl! She was genius in there!

I go to see my Tributes and I don't even think of drinking now.

I walk into the room with my thumbs up.

I smile to her and she smiles back and… I prefer not to think of how her eyes sparkle when she looks at me.

"Nice shooting, sweetheart," I pay her a compliment and take the my sit. "What they did when you… shot the arrow?"

"Well, they looked pretty startled," she answers me and I laugh. When was the last time I did that?

"And what did you say? Thanks for…?"

"Thank you for your consideration," she tells me happily.

"Genius!" I am so excited. "Genius!" Our eyes lock again and I need to break the contact. There is something going on here and I know it is only from my side. God, I know I have been living a life in confinement, but I get a female tribute every year. Why this one should be any different?

Then we watch the results and Katniss scored… eleven.

I couldn't be more proud of her now.

* * *

**AN **I hope you like it so far. Please, comment and sub!


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